President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono phoned Jordanian King Abdullah on Monday to express gratitude for his attention to the 12 Indonesian volunteers from the freedom flotilla mission, a presidential spokesman said on Tuesday.

"Yesterday President Yudhoyono phoned the Jordanian king to express appreciation," Dino Patti Djalal said after accompanying the president in receiving five repatriated volunteers at the presidential office.

The president was thankful to the Jordanian government for its attention to the 12 Indonesian volunteers while they were being detained in Israel, he said.

"The president also affirmed that the Indonesian government will continue its diplomatic struggle to encourage the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state as desired by the Palestinian people," he said.

Dino said the president also lauded the Indonesian volunteers` participation in the humanitarian mission to Gaza.

Five of the 12 Indonesian volunteers returned home on Monday. They were among 12 Indonesian volunteers who had been on the convoy of six ships attempting to ferry relief aid supplies to Gaza when they were attacked by the Israeli navy on May 31.

One of the five repatriated volunteers, Okvianto, was wounded during the Israeli troops` attack. Meanwhile, another wounded Indonesian volunteer, Surya Fachrizal, was still in a hospital in Amman.

The 12 Indonesian activists were part of the "Flotilla to Gaza" mission carrying more than 10,000 tons of relief and developmental aid to Gaza, along with roughly 700 participants from more than 30 countries.